Starfall (Starflight #2)(11)
Jordan delivered the kind of amused look one might give a child who’d asked where babies came from. “I imagine the same person who paid for his missiles.”
“You think he has a financial backer?”
“I know he does. And it’s someone with connections powerful enough to make the Solar League look the other way.”
“What about my kingdom? Who’s in charge?”
“That depends on who you ask.”
“No one?”
He answered with a shrug. “Or everyone. Either way, it’s a mess.”
“So how have you fought off the Durango army for this long?”
“The citizens took up arms. Which seemed like a good thing, at first….”
“Until?” she prompted.
“Until they stopped taking orders and formed a rebellion. They want the charter amended to form a republic.”
“Oh god.” Cassia gripped her temples and thought back to the symbol she’d seen defacing the palace. That must be the mark of rebels. But an uprising was the least of her problems. Without a leader, the Rose kingdom would continue its downward spiral until it tumbled right into Marius’s hands. Her people needed a queen, and no matter how tarnished her reputation, she was the rightful heir to the throne. She nodded at the cell door. “Let me out of here and take me home.”
To her great surprise, Jordan told her, “No.”
“Excuse me?”
“This isn’t a rescue mission.”
“Enough games,” she snapped. “Unlock this door right now.”
“Let’s say that I do,” Jordan countered, “and that we actually make it out of here alive. Do you think Marius will just shrug it off and let you go?”
Cassia tightened her jaw. She knew the answer.
“He won’t,” Jordan said. “He’ll burn down every house in the kingdom until he finds you. This is personal for him—he’s been the colony joke ever since you left him at the altar. I think the reason he hasn’t completely crushed us is because he wanted you to be here to watch it happen. When I heard you were captured, I infiltrated his guard detail so I could see you. But I didn’t tell anyone. Not even my next-in-command knows I’m here.”
“Then what’s the point? Did you come here to taunt me?”
“No. I came to see if you grew a backbone. To see if there’s any fight left in the Rose bloodline.” He delivered a pointed look. “And to see if you can help me take down Marius from the inside.”
That shocked a laugh out of her. “And what’ve you decided?”
“That I think you have it in you.”
“Well, I think you’re unhinged.”
“Maybe we’re both right,” he said. A click of footsteps from overhead warned their conversation would be cut short. He moved closer and spoke in a whisper. “Running away won’t solve anything, and neither will assassinating Marius. We have to take him alive so he can tell us who’s supplying his missiles and where he’s hiding them, because they’re not in his armory. Once we have his missiles, his army will have to stand down. If you find a way to neutralize Marius, I’ll come back for you. And when I do, you’ll have the full support of the military to reclaim what’s yours.”
His idea set Cassia’s inner wheels in motion, but she still didn’t see how it was possible. “I can’t do anything from in here.”
“Then you’re not as cunning as I remember.”
“But I don’t have so much as a hairpin on me.”
Jordan’s shrug said that didn’t worry him. “If you play this right, you won’t need one. I heard the ladies’ maids talking before you arrived. They’re supposed to clean you up and present you to Marius’s court at supper. Maybe you can persuade him to honor your marriage contract.”
“Now I know you’re unhinged.”
“Planning a royal wedding takes a lot of work. Creates distractions that make a man vulnerable. Whatever you decide, I suggest you use that famous charm of yours.” As the general backed away, he frowned at her stained clothes. “I’m sure it’s buried under there somewhere.”
“How do I contact you?”
“You don’t.”
“But we need a plan. How will you know when to come for me?”
All he told her was, “Don’t worry. I’ll know.”
Then he ducked out the side door, leaving her head spinning.
An hour later, a team of guards arrived to bind her wrists and usher her to the servants’ wing, where a trio of scissor-wielding maids awaited on a tarp that protected the floor from a scourge of “mutated lice.” With pinched faces, the maids cut away her clothes and tossed the soiled rags into the fireplace, all the while remarking that poor Marius should never have been contracted to wed such a disgusting girl.
Over the next several hours, they scrubbed Cassia raw, washed her hair until her scalp burned, and then erased her bruises using medical cosmetics she hadn’t seen since her days in the palace. When the pain was gone and the real makeover began, she pretended to enjoy the tickle of shimmer being dusted on her cheekbones, but her focus was on Jordan’s offer.
There had to be a way to make it work.